Exclusive: The 1975

Published on 27 August 2013

It’s no secret that here at Hunger TV we’re fans of The 1975, so to say that we’re excited about the album is a bit of an understatement. Released in little under a week, the album looks set to be a culmination of years of work for the band, and will no doubt further their meteoric rise to the top.

Listen to an exclusive premiere of the title track, ‘The 1975′ before we chat to Matty about success, favourite songs and deeply personal tracks.

MATTY, SINCE THE LAST TIME WE SPOKE YOUR POPULARITY HAS SKY ROCKETED. WHAT DO YOU CREDIT IT TO AND WERE YOU EXPECTING IT?

That’s a really difficult question to answer as I don’t think it can be attributed to one thing. I think it helps that we have a clear sense of who we are and what we are trying to do creatively. We didn’t really know what to expect but we knew that everything we were going to put out was not going to be compromised and would be totally under our control. We’ve been very humbled by the way people have embraced our music and we’ve had an incredible year so far. We are lucky as our label Dirty Hit really understand our vision.

HOW MUCH PRESSURE DOES YOUR SUCCESS ADD TO THE ALBUM RELEASE?

We can’t really afford to get wrapped up in worrying about how much is expected of us. We are incredibly proud of the album we have made, it is truly the definitive sound of our band at this moment in time, it’s the cornerstone of the repertoire we have released to date. Each EP conceptually (at the risk of sounding pretentious) was its own mini album and this I guess the full album is the collection that shows all parts of who we are. It feels like a very complete album.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF ABOUT THE ALBUM?

That we are even putting out a record is insane. You have to remember we started playing music as a group of friends and had no real expectations outside of playing music together for ourselves. We’ve never done anything else and this album is the result, its what happened out of our relationships with one another and others around us. As I keep saying it’s the soundtrack of our formative years.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THEMES THAT YOU’VE COVERED – AND ARE THEY AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL?

It’s all autobiographical essentially but I find that if I am so specific, focusing on the situation as apposed to the emotional narrative within it, people really relate to it in their own specific way. They fill in the gaps and scene that I paint with their own experiences and ideas. It’s really cool hearing what people reckon songs are about, that’s one of my favourite bits of being in this band. All the songs have their own story some are more obvious than other but all are true.

IS THERE ONE SONG THAT YOU’RE MOST CONNECTED TO?

Yes – “Is There Somebody Who Can Watch You”. I wrote it about a phase of total change in my life. At the end of the record we starting analysing it and looking to see if there was anything that we felt it lacked. We all decided it needed a really reflective moment. After our headline tour in May I had to go home to move out of my childhood home, the song is about leaving people behind and the in this case the guilt / sense of loss that has come with not physically being able to see your family and in this instance my little brother. It’s a very personal song.

YOU’RE PREMIERING THE TITLE TRACK ‘THE 1975′ WITH US, WHICH IS ALSO THE FIRST TRACK ON THE RECORD. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS IS AN OPENER AND WHAT DOES THIS SONG MEAN TO YOU?

It was a piece of music that upon its conception we immediately knew would be the start of our debut album. It holds so many of the sounds we use across all of our EP’s and it creates a perfect pensive atmosphere. It’s really exciting when we hear that song, a lot of the words you will hear throughout the album feature in that intro, it couldn’t be called anything else, I sets the tone for the entire album.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE PEOPLE TAKE AWAY AFTER LISTENING TO THE ALBUM?

I want them to be hopelessly in love with something, I don’t really care what it is. But if our record provides a soundtrack to a really specific time in their life in which they’re inspired or excited or sad or anything; that’s what I want, cos that’s what my favourite records have done for me. A couple at a gig recently told me they had fallen in love to our “Sex” EP. That is the biggest compliment we could be given.

“The 1975″ from The 1975’s self-titled debut album, out Sept. 2nd 2013 in the UK and Sept. 3rd in the US. Available to pre-order now on iTunes: http://smarturl.it/the1975album